The Death Road

On the bus from Peru to Bolivia, I happened to get a seat next to a lady from Mexico who also travelled alone around this part of the world, although in a much quicker pace crammed into two weeks of holidays. She was lucky to sit next to me because at the border, I politely asked her if she had got both stamps in order (exit Peru and entry into Bolivia). She first didn't realise that there were two places to go to and had only got the exit stamp from the Peruvian immigration so she hurried off before the bus departed (it would wait for everyone to complete the paperwork) and obtained the final stamp. I guess being in a country legally saves you a lot of hassle when trying to leave.

Similarly, I was lucky to sit next to her because she talked me into taking a bike tour down the "Death Road" (one of only two things she travelled to Bolivia for).
The "Death Road Tour" is a five-hour cycle tour, a dramatic descent from a high mountain pass in the Andes (4700 metres above the sea; cooold) to a semi-tropical region at the end of the mountain range (where the Amazon Basin starts), located only 1180 metres above sea level (very hot).

The road has got its nickname from a legendary extreme danger and it has been named the most dangerous road in the world. One estimate said that over 200 people yearly died along this route. It was mainly due to maniac drivers and machoist bus operators ignoring the danger with speeding on a narrow mountain road, sometimes causing busloads falling down the ravine. Today, there is an alternative road to the village at the bottom and the "Death Road" is no longer used by everyday traffic. Hence it doesn't harvest as many victims anymore, although at least one or two tourist bikers have had the misfortune to lose their lives in the ravine. Most traffic going on the road is now related to tourism.

Some pictures from the cycle ride are shown below:

There was a heavy fog at the top so we didn't see much









The road was narrow and you didn't want to cycle to close to the edge in case you slipped...

















But apart from danger, there was also lovely views of the landscape